205 



off to his mate. He usually chooses a small stone, 

 or other elevation (seeming to prefer something more 

 solid than a branch), then proceeds to poise himself 

 well on his feet, tilts the chest towards the ground, 

 half opens his wings, spreads out his tail, the wings 

 all the while being kept in a sort of tremulous dither, 

 and keeps running, or rather mincing to and fro, on 

 his toes, uttering all the while his caw, working into 

 it several inflections that are absent on other occasions. 

 All this time the female takes but little notice of his 

 exertions, till he follows her up with a few pecks of 

 remonstrance ; then they sit and feed one another, 

 and preen or pick over each other's feathers. The 

 bands of the lesser wing coverts stand out very 

 prominently during the courting movements, light- 

 ing up the sombre but lustrous plumage with quite a 

 dash of colour ; in fact the whole bird seems quite trans- 

 formed during this period into a bundle of " nerves." 



These birds when they first came to hand were 

 placed in an indoor aviary about 5ft. by 4ft. by y^ft. 

 high, but here they were very wild, though they had 

 for companions a very quiet pair of Varied Lorikeets ; 

 as they did not quieten down I caught them up and 

 turned them out of doors, where they settled down at 

 once, and they certainly now claim my attention quite 

 as much as many of their more gorgeously apparelled 

 companions. 



In a state of nature I gather that this species is 

 gregarious, feeding together in flocks on the ground ; 

 they frequent marshy tracts, the nest being usually 

 built on rushes growing in the water ; the eggs are 

 white, with just a suspicion of a greenish-blue wash 

 spotted with brown and black at the larger end, the 



